Saw this in a newspaper, as you can imagine there have been a 'few' letters to the editor........... Have we really allowed ourselves to be swamped by this type of PC officialdom?

"C......... Council can't retrieve bin from river - because staff are not qualified to wear wellies."

Council staff were unable to clear a dustbin from a four-inch deep stream because they weren't qualified to wear Wellington boots and a safety harness. Instead local residents had to wade in to clear the metal bin and its load of filthy rubbish following the bizarre ruling. The incident at S..... H...... has astounded villagers. D.... B......, vice-chairman of the parish council, said: "They think it's an absolute joke." He said the bin had been placed on a footpath leading to the village hall by a well-intentioned resident for passers-by to dump their litter. But when it ended up in the stream, with its rubbish slopping out into the water, Mr Barnard contacted the district council. He said: "I spoke to someone from the department dealing with fly-tipping and he said – and I quote – 'We don't have anyone qualified to wear Wellington boots'. I know they must have their health and safety regulations, fair enough, but it was only four inches of water." Parish councillors themselves then seized the initiative. Three of them donned their wellies, spent 20 minutes in the stream removing the bin and bagging up its unsavoury contents before loading bin and bags into a car and taking everything to the tip. One of them, Mrs. P.. J...., said: "It was horrid, especially as it had all been in the water for a while. All you needed was wellies, a rake and a pair of rubber gloves." The 71-year-old grandmother added: "It was easily accessible. I could get down there quite easily." A spokeswoman for C......... District Council said: "We do have health and safety strategies for all members of staff." Mrs J.... said: "It's just ridiculous. You don't need training to put wellies on, do you? Priorities in this country are all wrong."

Hmmmm!!!

(I have chosen to protect all the identities from further ridicule.)

"If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?"
(T.H.Huxley - 1877)

When exactly did the world go mad? I think I must have missed it. It never used to be so petty and stupid. People took a pride in their work and in their environment. I was brought up to put litter in bins (and we had a lot less litter bins in those days) not to carelessly drop my grot without a thought. Go to other countries and you'll see real pride that their streets are clean.

I don't know what happened to this country. When did people stop caring?

. . . to answer your question Tony, in the '60's. Wilsons government encouraged left wing weirdo's to start their mindless infiltration into our society. They bedded in to Social Services, local Councils and then schools. There, their poisonous atitude was allowed to fester, largely because of public apathy. Today's society is the result. IMHO.

* * * Actually I believe that is in many peoples opinion. * * *

"If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?"
(T.H.Huxley - 1877)

You can call me CRAZY but here is my Theory on when The UK went wrong...............

May 1945 Nazi German is on the ropes, the Allies have made major in roads on all fronts.

Hitler calls on one more push from His master Scientists to give Him the A Bomb.

On May the 1st just 7 Days before the official end of War in Europe they drop Two Bombs, one Hits Manchester causing the loss of 85,000 lives and the other is detonated on board a Refugee ship entering New York Harbour Killing 242,000.

The same Day the Western half of the alliance makes a deal with Hitler and pulls back to their own Territories.

Hitler fights on and eventually beats the Soviet union in 1949 after developing the H Bomb.

The allies are prevented from continuation of the Manhattan Project due to constraints imposed at the Dusseldorf Conference.

Nazi attitudes are encouraged inside Captured Lands and the control of the remaining Free World Countries are tightly monitored by teams based in the Embassies in theses countries.

The Government in the UK was ousted by Quislings loyal to Hitler and a new World experiment is established in this Country.........The history taught in Schools is a fictitious one.

The Uber-Leaders in Germany use the UK to test Theories both Genetic and Social...........

So....................... when you find a Parking Ticket left on the screen of your car by a Little Man with a Charlie Chaplin Moustache was that Him testing the resolve for the Man/Woman in the street?

I spent the school year of 1962-63 in Edinburgh (although I did do some travelling). What struck me then was the cleanliness of the streets and the general politeness. I never had heard of a que in a greengrocers, so I just went to stand in front of what I wanted to buy--eventually someone told me that I wouldn't ever be waited on if I didn't join the que. I was also taken to task by one of my flatmates for not saying please and thank you to a taxi-cab driver.

While the Scots are supposed to be "mean", they couldn't have been more open and generous to me--especially after my mother came to visit me at Easter, broke her back in a fall and died there.

Quil, you've become an old fuddy-duddy. You mean that "left-wing" equal weirdos. Well, can't speak for the UK actually, but in the US the Democrats (the left-wingers) have been the party of social reform and (oddly enough) fiscal responsibility. It was the "right-wing" weirdos who believed in 19th century economics (laissez faire)and early 20th century style diplomacy by war who got the world, not just the UK into today's mess.

Maybe what you need is to have an Obama-type politican who mobilizes the youth of UK to insist on a new general election and perhaps a party that is in tune with the times. Tony Blair has been as much of a disaster as GW Bush.

Yes - in the sense that I was saying - the 60's left wing in the UK was very extreem.
As to political parties today, they have become almost indistiguishable as they all struggle to attain the moral high ground.

"If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?"
(T.H.Huxley - 1877)